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A strange thing that I have noticed over the last few months, walking the bustling streets of Toronto, is that I walk on the wrong side of the street. Or, as I’d like to say, the rest of the people in Toronto walk on the wrong side of the street, and I walk on the right side of the street. I challenge you to try this little experiment for yourself, and see what results you get – granted it may involve visiting another country to truly get the meaning of my post, but still 😛

I’ve subconsciously always walked on the left-hand side of the sidewalk my whole life, it’s just the way I’m used to walking. However, in Toronto, people tend to walk on the right-side of the sidewalk. I noticed this when, after absent-mindedly walking around for a few minutes, I would nearly bump into someone who was walking on the same side of the sidewalk as me. I would then (politely) move to the other side of the sidewalk, and continue on my merry way, since there’s a trail of a few people behind the person I nearly bumped into.

I eventually realized that it wasn’t my mindless walking that made me almost bump into people, but more because they were used to walking on the right-hand side of the road (which would be the left-hand side of the sidewalk if they’re walking towards me), while I was used to walking on the left-hand side. This, clearly, was a problem.

When I first realized this happening, I started purposefully walking on either the left or right side, to see which people would move out of my way (not many people did…), as well as carefully (and not at all creepily) keep an eye out on how other people walked, and whether they walked on the right or left-hand side of the sidewalk.

This long experiment led me to the conclusion that people actually tend to walk on the same side of the road that they drive on. And as a person who comes from a country where we drive on the left side, thus walk on the left side, it has been an interesting experience to come to Toronto, where they drive and walk on the right side instead.

I walk on the left side of the pathway 😀 Whenever I go overseas I never notice what side people walk on because there are so many people there you get distracted by that! 😛

Thank you for saying you liked my blog I put heaps of work into it and also thank you for visiting it too! Thank you for the advice about the image tag I’ll try do it and if it doesn’t work I will email you, coding is just so confusing! 🙂

Hi Aashni! Thank you for the comment on my website. I live in the U.S and typically we walk on the right side (I beleive, haven’t really noticed, depends on where you’re going i guess). I have only been once outside of the country and didn’t really go anywhere with busy siidewalks. That’s pretty funny though, how you kept running into people. I guess i’ll be looking out for where people walk so i won’t be walking on the wrong side of the sidewalk next time i leave the country.

I think it’s loosely tied to what side of the road cars drive on. It’s easiest to tell what’s “normal” for a country at the airports where they have those moving walkways. Usually there’s a sign asking standers to stand on one side and rushing walkers/sprinters to dash down the other. The UK drive on the left side, so the walkways ask people to stand on the right and walk on the left. People generally tend to walk on the left side.

But I think you’ll find that the British are most definitely wrong. 😛

The right is always right. Shown by the amount of times people bend to my desire of walking on the correct side of the road. Although I tend to barrel down roads so it can be quite scary. 😛

I walk on the right side of the sidewalk or hallway. 🙂 I would agree that it’s because of what side of the street I drive on, which is the right. However, if I go running around my neighborhood, I run against traffic – so the left side – so I can see cars coming when I have my music in.

Walking on the left side of something seems weird to me. Don’t people drive on the left side of streets, roads, etc. in Europe/on the other side of the globe? If so, I think that’s it. As far as I know, it’s what they teach in school, too. In the hallways, I was never allowed to walk on the left side (even though some people typically did). It was just always the way to do things.

I think it’s backwards for you because it’s what you’re used to — it’s what you were raised doing.

I’ve never really been to a foreign country, so i can’t say that I’ve had the experience. However, I do agree with you that people tend to walk on the side of the road that they drive on/are used to driving on (you never know, someone could drive on the wrong side of the road in the U.S.!)

I guess it’s because it’s in their mindset. People that drive on the left side of the road almost always walk on the left hand side as well because their used to it. I know one of my friends from the Netherlands always used to walk on the left hand-side of the hallway when she first came to my school in the 7th grade. I always wondered why!

I’m not driving yet so the whole which side thing generally goes over my head. I do know that in New Zealand we drive on the left side of the road. As for the footpath I tend to walk in the middle (as unless you are in the CBD the footpaths aren’t that wide in Auckland) if no one else is around, otherwise I switch and zigzag everywhere as I move around people, I don’t make them move around me.

I’m one of those people that does that whole step to the same side as the person you are trying to get around thing all the time, then feel like a fool. I’m trying to remember if that happened when I was in the US, but I honestly don’t remember 😮